Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-11-05
Particulars
Of the Tragedy at the Territorial
 Pentientiary.


 The CITIZEN, anxious to lay before its
 readers true statement of the right
 ful tragedy so recently enacted in the
 Territorial PenitentisTy, dispatched hr.
 H. b. Tenny to the scene Ot the conflict.
 he returned last evening, and gives the
 following particulars of the brlet, but
 bloody battle, in which four of the seven
 muiinous convicts were killed outright,
 and another severely, if not mortally,
 wounded, and Hon. Thos. Gates, Super IntendRnt of the institution, dan
 gerously if not fatally stabbed. On Thursday morning as Supt. Gates
 was leaving the pnsOn by the north
 sally port, to oversee some men s5 woIk, as was bis custom, be was seized by Llbrsdo Puebla, a thirty year eonyici,
 who attempted to pinon hls arm IS behind
 him with @ handkerchief, and Gs the same time forced him outslde the prison walls. Gates sesolutely stguggl -d
 for his freedom and attempted to force
 Puebls to one side ID order tU give Guard
 Hartley, who was stationed on t1e wEler
 tank with rifle about thirty yards away,
 chance to shoot without being himself
 hit. PueblR, armed wish B kuIig, held lt
 threateningly above Gates hesd, snd
 mensoingly said, ''Sabe this
 In the struggle with Gates Puebla was
 assisted bys fellow-coBvict named Lopez,
 out the latter, suddenly rele sing hls | hold ran, with companion, to the house l of the SupeTlntendenf, where the 5ecre-
 tary of the Prison Board, Mir. huls and wife were, aud demanded arms, but not finding any they turned and ran towards | the office, where breaking open a desk | they secured revolver and ran back iO assist Puebls whom Gates had in
 the meantime partially turned round. | This wRs Hartley's chance, and he im- | poved it by shooting Puebla through | the leg. The latter then drove Li' | knife into Gates right shoulder. the blade passing down bet%yeen ihe col | lar bone and shoulder blede, into the | lung, and was being pressed home for | sll it was worth, when Secretary Rule, who, with his revolver, had followed L0- | peg ou. of the house, in his haste to Ls- | sist Gates, although at that time uLL- | ware that the latter was wounded, dealt | Puebls a terrific blow over the hesd, cut nng is open. Seeing 8s be thought, PUe- | blH partially fall, he turned bls Btteu- | tion 10 others. At thls moment L0p,Z with the pistol he had secured ID the | office, returned to Puebla's resistance | and placing the revolver against Gates | head, pulled the trigger. but Gates | by 6 desperate effort, had freed his | left arm, aud managed Co krDck the weapon up as is exploded, 80 that lE- l stead of injurinz him, the bullet pessed through and between tue bones ot Eueb- ls's left arm.
 Rule, seeing this, agalo went to the relief of Gates, but was met by Lopez, who, at the point ot hss pistol, toEced hlm towards the office. and finally suOs | at, but missed him. Lopez, thu kIng be | hsd killed Rule. again turned tOwaTi- where Puebls and Gstes were struggling, | but as be did so, Rule, who was uuIG- | iured, shct him through she right sid5. Lopez fell. with his head near the office
 porch, and Rule, believing blm dead, turned and shot at N6squeZ, vbO vss running towards Gates RDd Bueb- | Ia. At this moment, he was
 also shot by guard Hartley, Tho, from his point of vantage, was doing most efficient work. As NssqueZ fell, | Rule turned towards the office to get
 more cartridges, but as be did so. Lopez, | who was lying on his face a few fee: | away, holding his pistol in both hsnds, | shot at but RgBIn missed him, the bullet | hattening itself sgsinsI the wall by hls | siie. Rule then Bgaln shot him, inc
 bullet striking and disabling his right
 arm.
 Hearing the noise and thinking it Vas
 6 fight among the MeKieHns, .Bsruey | Riggs. a lifetime convict, rushed out. | Seeing the struggle between Gates and | Puebls, and stIll thinking |. 0 fsh. among the MeIicsns and that Mir. | Gates was ende-v0TiBg tO separate | them, he went to bIs assistance and was met by 6 vicious thrust from the kuife
 ID the hands of Puebla. Realizing for l the first tune the true nature of the D. | tiict, he ran fi-st to tho house and then | to the office, bus could --t DO weapon | and wRs returning empty hauted ~u.n | seeing LopeL lyInz on ihe grOI-d. still
 holding hIs pistUi, he spEglx HsiTile Cs
 him, wreuched it from hI C.u-c-el h-I 4 | and the next moment Its Cuzz.u -aa | against Puebla's 5ieast. AS lu5 ham
 mer fell the latter slo aiy withdrew tle | bloody knife and turned partially Touna
 and when Riggs again shot hin Ce sstk
 s'owly to the ground. ca being tLGs freed Gates staggered fer few pace- and fell. He was jmmediatels picked
 up by several Oniookng convicts sBG
 taken to bis room in 6 ssmi-uncUlsciCu us state.
 l During the melee, ,'ope Of the convicis.
 also a MeJIcsD, armed with pick, en- deayored to escape by running down the bill towards the town. but 10 dong co,
 he met Guard Fredley wfO had been iu l Yuma and was returning to tbe peui- | tentisry. UndeteTTed by a blow over I L.r sI h1 4 L
 the escape, and B most desperate stTug- | gle took place. Tue Mexican eudeayor- ed 10 throw him over a twsHty-ioot em- | bsnkment, b1. ss be could not rid him self of hls captor, both went over tIe
 bluff together, and fortune favoriug.
 they struck the bottom with Frodley oD | top.
 At the time Of the outbreak. Johnny Behan, turnkey, wGs eating broakfss', | snd would have been uncOncious of the | life and death struggle that was being enacted on the outsIde, but for a nez.1 convict-the only man Of that race m tDe instItution-who BpptiseG hlu Cf it
 SnRtohing a gun, he rushed tO the scene.
 and seeing the struggle beiwseu Ereliey
 and the Mexican, was by tbeir siCy in @ moment. Fredley, being covered with blood from tbe blow on the head. bcd
 the appearance of being dangerously
 wounded. and Behsn's Ifss impulse
 was to kill the Mexican, but on being
 assured by .he piucky guard that. be
 hai the best of the encounter.
 they let him up. and marched him to hi
 old quarters.
 The whole occurrence was the work
 of few minutes. and had everything been previously reheETsed greater cool
 ness or more nerve could not have been
 displayed, not only by the desperados
 themselves, whose lives had been staksd
 upon the hazard of the dIe, but oi the
 officers, although taken by surprise, en-
 gagged ID quellIng them.
 Supt Gates, while suffering from the
 terrific thrusts of the 6ssassIn's knIfa,
 and standing within the very shadow
 of death, cooly ordered the guard
 10 fire. and with a remarkable pres ence of mind endesyored tn go turn his ssssilsnt ss to better expose him 10 the unerring aim of Hartley, vhose every bullet downed man. Gates wound. while not neces-
 ssrily fatal, is, to say the least, extremely hfuAa xrsfh rrfs 70